Characteristics of TeGa 2 Sb 14 Thin Films for Phase-Change Memory

Thin films based on ternary Te-Ga-Sb alloys show much improvement over conventional Ge 2 Sb 2 Te 5 for phase-change memory applications in our earlier researches. Disclosed in this paper are phase-change characteristics of a Sb-enriched composition TeGa 2 Sb 14 . The crystallization temperature ( T c ) determined from electrical resistivity versus temperature curve is 232 [compfn] C. The activation energy of crystallization ( E c ) evaluated by isothermal method is 3.66 eV. Data-retention is 143 [compfn] C for 10 years attained from the extrapolation of the isothermal Arrhenius plot. The structure of the TeGa 2 Sb 14 films analyzed using grazing-incident-angle X-ray diffraction shows amorphous at as-deposited state and one crystalline phase well fitted by R3m Sb-structure after crystallization. Phase-change memory bridge-cells based on TeGa 2 Sb 14 film and TiN electrodes fabricated using focus-ion-beam method reveal typical characteristics of memory-switching behaviors suitable for phase-change memory.